April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month

Distracted driving endangers motor vehicle drivers, their passengers and pedestrians. Learn more about the consequences by viewing the real-life stories of Iowans whose lives were changed forever due to the carelessness of a distracted driver or as a result of not buckling up.

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Nebraska City News-Press - Nebraska City, NE

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Posted Apr. 10, 2013 at 8:17 AM
Updated Apr 10, 2013 at 8:18 AM

Posted Apr. 10, 2013 at 8:17 AM
Updated Apr 10, 2013 at 8:18 AM

AMES, Iowa

Distracted driving endangers motor vehicle drivers, their passengers and pedestrians. Learn more about the consequences by viewing the real-life stories of Iowans whose lives were changed forever due to the carelessness of a distracted driver or as a result of not buckling up. Log on to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s website at www.iowadot.gov/CurbitClickit/ or the U.S. DOT’s site at www.distraction.gov/.

Text messaging while driving is not only illegal; it is one of the most dangerous distractions. It requires drivers to take their hands off the wheel, eyes off the road and mind off the task of driving.

Here are a few more valuable facts about the risks of using mobile communication devices while driving.

Teen drivers are more likely than other age groups to be involved in a fatal crash where distraction is reported.

Of the American teens surveyed, 40 percent say they have been in a car when the driver used a mobile phone in a way that put people in danger.

Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.

Text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted.

Sending or receiving a text takes a driver's eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, which is equivalent to driving (at 55 mph) the length of an entire football field, blind.

Headset mobile phone use is not substantially safer than hand-held use.

Using a mobile phone while driving – whether it's hand-held or hands-free – delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Driving while using a mobile phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.